Robbinsville High School varsity baseball coach cleared of allegations

A file photo of Robbinsville High School in Robbinsville, NJMartin Griff/The Times

ROBBINSVILLE — The high school’s varsity baseball coach will be back on the field for the team’s game today after being cleared of allegations filed with the state Department of Children and Families.

Superintendent Steve Mayer said today that Tom Brettell, in his sixth year at the helm, was the subject of an anonymous complaint.

Brettell, also a science teacher at the school, was held off the field for just over two weeks but will coach the team against Allentown High School today.

The state department conducted an investigation into the complaints, which were “general in nature,” and student interviews were completed today, Mayer said. He did not elaborate on the complaint against the coach.

“The district has been present the whole time and we have enough information, as a school district, to put him back on the field,” Mayer said. “We appreciate his patience with this process.”

Brettell became the team’s head coach in 2008, after serving as an assistant coach since the school was opened in 2002.

Under his leadership, the team won the Central Jersey Sectional championship in 2008 and 2010, the Colonial Valley Conference Patriot Division title in 2010 and 2011 and was champion of the Mercer County tournament in 2011.

Mayer said the district’s policy is to follow up on any complaint against a coach filed with the district and to cooperate with any outside agency looking into a complaint.
“We do that as a matter of protocol,” Mayer said.

He said the district’s coaches will be under a higher degree of scrutiny after Rutgers University men’s basketball coach Mike Rice was fired this month when videos of Rice physically and verbally abusing his players surfaced.

“You’re put in that fishbowl,” Mayer said. “We appreciate coaches who are passionate, who push kids and who try to get the most out of their teams, but we also expect the coaches to behave with the appropriate decorum.”